What to do
by HotBloodedFieryTemper
Summary: Edward is bored. What new is there for an immortal to do? Will this new human girl get in the way of the passtimes that make life the slightest bit interesting?
1. Chapter 1: BORED!

**Chapter 1**

**Edward's POV**

I am so bored! Yeah, okay at first the idea of immortality is exciting, full of possibilities and adventure. You know that you can fit in everything that you've ever wanted to do AND still have time to do pretty much anything else. Unlimited time equates to becoming perfect at pretty much everything… but then WHERE are the challenges? What is there that is NEW? It's always a case of been there, done that.

Hence me sitting here. In school. Never mind the fact that I've already graduated about 20 times. I've got the diplomas to prove it. And once again, biology lectures are not holding my attention. I know that I can be easily distracted. I mean, my kind can hold multiple thoughts simultaneously. Not like the humans. Capable of only one thought at a time, and unable to imagine the possibility of having TWO or more thoughts. Never mind five or six like I can. And that's on a slow day.

On the one hand it's good that I've not got any challenges, nothing that I struggle with. Otherwise this charade with the humans would be impossible. And I'd be stuck indoors. Until after dark of course. And though the dark doesn't affect my eyesight, it is still annoying to be cooped up whilst the sun is shining. When it's dark I feel that I truly am the monster I fear I am. It doesn't matter how much my… family try to reassure and convince me, deep down I know that I am a monster. I may try to fool myself, and sometimes I am successful, but the undeniable truth is that I am a monster. Under the cover of darkness I can be my true self. I don't have to hide. And it scares me, thinking that maybe someday I will give in to my true self. Maybe I will sacrifice all that we have worked for by allowing my true nature to reign.

Okay… so maybe I should stop these depressing, overpowering, seductive and oh so tempting thoughts… being a nice guy instead of allowing the monster at my core to take over is hard enough without tempting myself. Just the memory, perfectly sharp though decades old, of that delectable, intoxicating aroma of hot, pulsing vitality that all humans emanate makes my throat burn.

Family. My family. They are my reasons for not giving in to temptation, they are the ones that allow me to be myself, that which is not the monster that craves to be heard. Many are shocked by my word choice. But family is the best word. Coven. Clan. Group. All are okay words. Not the best though. I suppose many people would associate my kind as being in "covens", but they are the ones that accept our destiny is to be the monsters within. Due to their… habits, they are unable to form relationships of the intensity and sincerity like my family and me. They are ruled by their needs. By denying ourselves what we most crave, my siblings and I are able to be rational and genuine, which make our bonds that much stronger.

They are truly my family; my mother, father, brothers and sisters in earnest. They have and will always be there for me. They have widely different personalities, but somehow, by being united in our goal to not be ruled by others decisions, but to make our own choices, we are able to live harmoniously and in comfort. Our lives are relatively normal. No humans question us. They just accept and ignore us. Like now. In this biology class. No one sits by me. I know that physically I am attractive, yet another plus side to being that which I am, impossibly so, and yet still the humans keep their distance. Luckily, they are able to recognise, if not consciously, that we are dangerous to them. That it would be better for them to steer clear. To not form any attachments. Sure that makes us stand out a little, but it's better to stand out for being aloof or just plain weird instead of being found out and being hunted. Having to move. Possibly having to take care of things to ensure our secret is kept. The possibilities are what make me shudder.


	2. Chapter 2: Plans for the weekend

**Plans for the Weekend**

The rest of the day passed in a blur. A well-defined, but nevertheless uneventful, blur. It is pretty much a normal Friday with everyone planning what to do this weekend, full of hopefulness and unreserved optimism. Honestly. I don't know why they do it. The humans I mean. Each and every weekend they set themselves up for crushing disappointment. Occasionally things went according to plan, if not better, but more times than not… well let's just say that I especially hated the intrusion of people's thoughts on a Monday morning!

Although, admittedly, my ability to hear people's thoughts has at times been quite entertaining, more often than I like, it's proved a nuisance, offering me an unwanted insight into the vulgarity of some humans' minds. Just so distasteful!

I try to close off all of the voices as they can become exceedingly distracting. And it can make me look like a freak. Not that I don't already, but good looks are understandable, answering someone's thoughts before they speak? Yeah… not so understandable. There are six people whose thoughts I determinedly ignore. Those would be my family's thoughts. They know my secret and have accepted me with it and so I try to allow them this little privacy. Occasional thoughts slip through, but they've learnt certain tricks to keep me out.

Hearing the thoughts on Alice's latest proposed make-over on some poor unsuspecting stranger, with fine detail given to every single aspect, was really not fun. As about as much fun as listening to Esme's need to renovate anywhere and everywhere, or even ponder over my lack of interest in any of the females presented as possible partners to me. Even she thinks there's something wrong with me mentally. Besides the whole mind-reading thing. Pity is one thing that I just cannot stomach.

As often as my family call my ability a nuisance, it has more than proved its worth on numerous occasions. And it's not like I'm the only one with extra abilities. Not everyone of our kind has these abilities, and all are different manifestations – never the same ability twice – but plenty do. I've heard of as well as met others with abilities. And there are also some in my family who have them. Alice, who has a sort of precognitive ability, and Jasper, who is able to influence the emotions of those around him, both have abilities. Just as Emmett has his incredible strength, greater even than the superior strength of our kind as compared to the humans. There are varying types of abilities, but there are also varying strengths as well. Over the passage of time abilities can become exponentially more powerful. Hence the fact of Emmett being scarily strong already… scaring me ever so slightly. I mean, he already uses his strength to his own advantage, I daren't even imagine what he will be like if he gets even stronger.

Unfortunately these abilities aren't things we can switch on or off at times convenient to us. Sure, we can learn to control them, like we can learn to control our desires, our thirsts, but it takes time. Decades of it. Not that we don't have that time. We have forever. But what is there after that?

There were times when things caught my attention. This wasn't one of them. There were times when thoughts piqued my interest. Again, this wasn't one of them. There was nothing out of the ordinary happening, nothing threatening my existence, nothing forcing me to take notice. It was just going to be another boring, monotonous weekend in rainy, inconspicuous Forks.

Thank God. A safe weekend. No threat of exposure. A weekend where I can be the real me as much as possible. Nothing changing.

Well there was something. A non-event really, but something that stirred interest in this small town. The arrival of the police chief's daughter. Isabella Marie Swan. Nothing important. The addition of one insignificant human wouldn't affect us. My family and I have spent years disciplining ourselves. We would not be tempted.

Apparently though, in this small town, it is big news. I guess I'll have to put up with the unexplainable curiosity and interest shrouding this immaterial, ordinary girl.


	3. Chapter 3:Everything is normal

**Everything is normal**

The weekend passed as I had predicted. Uneventful. Safe. The continuous rainfall was bliss. I spent the time as I always have done, with my family. My brothers and I hunted, feasting upon the small game that surrounded Forks. My thirst wasn't at a critical state, I'm confident I can handle it. It's not like there is something here that would tempt me. I have spent the past seven decades at least fighting against the temptation that human's present to me. I know that at times my family and I can… relapse from time to time, but we pride ourselves on our ability to resist the call that the blood can offer to us. Each of us varies in our ability to refrain from drinking as it is different for everyone. Like how for humans giving up something like cigarettes can be difficult for one person and so much easier for another.

Carlisle is quite obviously the one amongst us who has the greatest restraint. For over three centuries he has resisted blood. Many would say that he has had the time to learn to withstand the temptation, which would be true, but he has never tasted human blood. Not even as a neophyte. It's not even as if Carlisle is able to do this by shying away from the human's as he is an active part of the community, having trained as a doctor. Constantly throughout the day he must deal with accidents involving blood and not once has he veered from the lifestyle he has chosen.

We prefer to live a 'vegetarian' lifestyle, feasting upon animals as opposed to humans. It follows logic that we ate upon animals as humans so what would be so different about feasting upon them whilst immortal? We don't want to be monsters, which is apparently what we have been changed into by this transformation from mortal to immortal. None of us asked for this. It was never our choices. It was forced upon each and every one of us either by necessity or by another's greed. So we've tried to do the best with the hand we've been dealt, and if that means denying the true nature of the beings we have become then so be it. Admittedly it's hard. The majority of our kind prefers to give in to their desires, not to deny themselves and just accept their 'destiny'. Very few follow the lifestyle my family have adhered to. In actual fact I only know of one other family further up north.

The one who probably struggles most with our lifestyle would be Jasper. Before he met us, Jasper had known another lifestyle; one that wasn't vegetarian, one where he was allowed to give into those carnal desires. For him to change to this lifestyle after almost a century of instant gratification has been harder than withstanding the desire originally after first being changed. He still struggles for control, but I think his love for Alice will help him.

Our ability to fight this overwhelming desire enables us to live in close proximity to the humans and to carry on this charade that allows us to live fairly normal lives. With nothing changing.

This weekend was just like every other. Everyone got on with whatever they wanted to do. Whether it be reading, playing music or racing to California and back in one night, they did it. Everyone was calm and relaxed. Life, or rather existence, didn't get any better than this, for us at least. I know that I moaned at how boring it is, but boredom and monotony are preferable to terror and uncertainty. There have been too many occasions when we've had to move on from someplace and start our lives all over again.

Alice awaited us as Emmett, Jasper and I returned home, her tiny elfin form perched upon the top step of the porch, watching us as we bounded across the river.

"Edward!" her chime-like voice reached me from across the meadow. It puzzled me. I knew that she would be there waiting for us, I could hear her thoughts from a couple of miles away, but I hadn't seen her waiting there for me. I had assumed that she would be there for Jasper. Those two were meant for each other, just as Rosalie and Emmett, and Esme and Carlisle are meant to be together.

Sometimes it's not so great being the only single person in a house full of couples. I mean I am genuinely happy for them. Their thoughts are testament to this fact, even though at times their thoughts are also quite sickening… and nauseating, they show how true the feelings for one another are. They show what true love really is. And it makes me want to wait, to find that person who is the other part of me, the person that will make me complete, the person who I would give anything to spend the whole of eternity with. I'm not prepared to settle for anything less after seeing how existence is for those in my family.

_Something is coming. I can't see what, but all of a sudden things aren't as certain, _Alice's thoughts sounded in my head, _I haven't told the others, it would just scare them. At the minute I don't see anything firm but I thought I should warn you, never mind the fact that you can hear my thoughts, you have to be on the look out. _

Her face showed none of her internal worry. And in truth there probably wasn't anything to worry about. There had been plenty of times when Alice and I had kept secret the possible threats that she saw in her visions from our family. Normally her visions would allow us to be pre-emptive or at least to be vigilant, and because of that by ourselves we were able to avoid any of these threats without anyone being any the wiser.

She was right in the fact that these visions would scare the others. Jasper would become even more overprotective of Alice than usual, never mind the fact that she doesn't need any help. Esme would just worry incessantly, not necessarily for herself, but for her family. Though she herself can never have children, she has adopted us as her children, and is as fiercely protective of us as any mother lion would be towards her cubs. Emmett would revel in the chance to have a fight, a true test of his strength, admittedly he wouldn't be scared, but Rosalie would be. Then she'd just be more grumpy than normal. And that possibility was even worse for me to consider than my family being torn apart. Rosalie in even more of a mood?! It doesn't bear thinking about.

And Carlisle would be Carlisle. Calm, cool and collected. The leader or father figure for our family. He would devise a plan that would have everybody happy. Except maybe Emmett because it would probably avoid violence. That would be Carlisle's way. The route of the peacemaker. A plan that would leave the humans unharmed and his family intact.

Every one of these people is dear to me. They are my true family, there for me whenever they are needed, supportive on so many levels and yet to turn their backs on me. Looking off into the distance I nodded ever so slightly, letting the others think I was distracted whilst letting Alice know that I understood, that I would do anything that I could, like I already had on so many occasions to be countless… except of course my sharper brain could recall each and every time.

Yet still it wasn't enough. Still we lived in fear.

_Good. Now how is Jasper? Was he okay? I hate that he is suffering…_


	4. Chapter 4: Silence

**Silence**

Speed. How exhilarating it is. It is something my family and I all have in common. We all thrive on speed. Running, jumping, swimming or even driving. There was just something about being fast, first and best. It is a strength that truly sets us apart from the humans. Something we can prove. Something definable. Sure we have heightened hearing and smell, but that isn't something that we can necessarily prove without humans becoming really uncomfortable or even suspicious. Running is something that is provable. Though we don't of course as that would blow our cover, but even the knowledge of a superiority, no matter how secret, is invigorating in itself.

Driving my siblings to school in my nice and shiny silver Volvo is something of a routine. A routine where I don't exactly follow the speed regulations, I outrageously flaunt them. Sure I was on high alert for anything out of the ordinary, something that would threaten our existence here, but that didn't mean that I wasn't able to enjoy myself. Besides, anything out of the ordinary would just alert the rest of my family to the fact that something may be wrong. They relied too much on mine and Alice's abilities. Sure they were helpful, but not necessarily infallible.

I mean my family are able to prevent me from hearing their thoughts. And it's not like I can tell if they're lying. I only hear the thought they are thinking at the time. They could be thinking lies for all I know. And people can devise ways in which to keep me out. That's already been proven. Not a lot of people now about my ability, but still those few that do and can understand it are able to nullify it. Just like how Alice's visions are never one hundred percent certain. They can change due to people's decisions and choices. No future is set in stone. People's paths vary due to choices they make and the consequences of actions taken.

Pulling into a parking space at school was as normal as normal could get. Getting out of the car and going to lessons was normal to. The morning passed without event. No sign of the danger Alice had foreseen was apparent in the grounds of Forks High.

As I predicted, the thoughts of the student body were focussed on the new addition to the student population. I continually saw her face, from every angle, every colouring, every fantasy. I don't get it. She just looks normal to me. Nothing spectacular. It has become apparent that more than half of the male student body believe themselves in love with her. Only the smallest of glances have led to these unexplainable infatuations. It is all because she is something new to look at.

It's impossible to avoid the subject of her. Everybody's thoughts were focussed on her, even the teachers'. Sure she is a phenomenon I suppose. Someone else to wonder and gossip about at lunch no doubt. Small towns thrive on the smallest pieces of gossip. These small pieces of gossip do not hold my attention though. Or that of my siblings. Alice and I are both playing the roles of juniors at school this year; the same year as this new girl, but neither of us has had lessons with her. Jasper, Emmett and Rosalie are all playing the parts of seniors, so they will have no lessons with her at all.

I just do not see the attraction.

She is just another human. Sure she could be pretty, if she made the effort. Or if Alice did, when she sees the potential I'm sure she'll pounce. Figuratively. Of course, she'd never jeopardise our existence by getting too close to the human girl. Her thoughts were just bound to go into overdrive concerning prospective make-overs. She'll make it her mission to make the girl shine. For me though, the girl's lower lip is slightly larger than her upper lip, throwing them out of balance. They are a dusky pink colour, and an image of her perfectly white teeth worrying against the plump flesh was one repeated throughout the day. Her eyes appear to be an ordinary brown from a distance, but upon closer inspection they appear to be more of a chocolaty brown. I can't be sure though, closer inspection would yield the truth, but I will never get that opportunity. Nor the curiosity to actually find out.

At the lunch table, everyone is seated, all with their trays and food, keeping up the charade though we will never eat the food. We don't need that kind of sustenance anymore. Here we can all be brought up to date. Not that anything normally happens. At times like this though, with Alice telling me to watch out, it is a good time to catch up and reassure her that all is good. And it is also a time when I'm not the only one on the look out. It also takes my mind off of the utter boredom that being immortal can bring about.

_Oh, Edward Cullen! _It isn't a thought that I would normally pay attention to, especially as the person who thought it normally caused great disgust and stress in me. Jessica Stanley. Ordinarily her thoughts are easy to tune out, but what with me being on high alert at the moment I'm letting almost every thought about us in. Also, the thought doesn't have the tone usually reserved to her thoughts concerning me, more spiteful than lustful, giving me pause for thought.

_Of course she'd be looking at them! Everyone looks at the Cullens. They are all so unbelievably good-looking. I can't believe she thinks she has a chance! I know that all the other boys are looking at her, but how could she imagine that EDWARD CULLEN would even be interested in HER?!?! I mean he hasn't even shown an interest in ME?!?! And I am far more good looking… _hmmm… I wonder who she's talking about? Looking into the far corner of the cafeteria I concentrate on the thoughts of those around her.

_She is so chic! She's from Phoenix… so sophisticated…_

_I wonder what music she's into? I want to make a good impression…_

_What lessons does she have? I wonder if I'll have any with her…_

I can not find anyone who is thinking about me or my family… how is that possible? Someone must be! Otherwise Jessica wouldn't have thought anything about it. Maybe I should look over, maybe if I know who is sat with Jessica I can pick their thoughts out from the crowds and I can focus and…

_She's staring at him again. Edward Cullen. Like she has a chance. He's oblivious as always_

With that thought I turn to look at Jessica, locating her easily in the chaos of the cafeteria. She's staring at someone. This must be who is thinking of me. All I have to do is follow her gaze… right into the deep chocolate brown eyes of a stranger. And I feel myself falling…

This is the new girl. The one they all think and talk about. And her eyes…. They are more than chocolate brown. It's like looking into a melted pot of chocolate. They hold so much.

Everything fades around me. Even with my perfect vision, and hearing, and ability to think more than one thought, all I see is her. Everything else is unimportant. All of my focus is on this creature before me. A warm red spreads across her porcelain fine skin, highlighting the vital pulse just millimetres below. She's blushing. How…. Quaint.

_Oh my god! Edward Cullen is staring right back!!!!_

These furious thoughts crash into the calmness of my mind, bringing me back to earth with an almighty bang, allowing me to recognise what is missing in this picture. Why can't I hear this girl?!?!


End file.
